Recruiting

Nick Kerr, the oldest of Warriors coach Steve Kerr’s three children, will join the Cal basketball team next season as a walk-on player, according to a source.

Nick Kerr, who played as a redshirt junior last season at the University of San Diego, has been accepted into the School of Public Health graduate program at Cal.

Cal has made no announcement on Kerr’s intentions, unable to comment until Kerr enrolls in classes. Because he has graduated from USD, Kerr would be immediately eligible to play next season for the Bears.

After announcing he was leaving USD in April, Nick Kerr told the San Diego Union-Tribune he wants to be closer to his father.

“My dad’s coaching the Warriors and I’m trying to become a coach,” Kerr said at the time. “I want to learn from him. I think being around (the Warriors’) practice would be the best thing for me to figure out what he’s doing.”

The 22-year-old will be reunited at Cal with sister Maddy Kerr, who was a sophomore on the Bears’ volleyball team last fall.

Nick Kerr played in just six games last season for the Toreros, scoring nine points. He scored a career-high 12 points – on 4-for-6 shooting from the 3-point arc – against Pacific during the 2013-14 season.

A 6-foot-3 guard, Kerr was a two-time all-league player at Torrey Pines High in San Diego, averaging 15.1 points as a senior, 19.5 as a junior.

On the day before the spring signing period ends, five-star center Caleb Swanigan committed to Purdue, alma mater of his legal guardian and former Boilermaker football player Roosevelt Barnes.

Cal went hard after the 6-foot-9, 265-pounder from Fort Wayne, Indiana, who last month de-committed from Michigan State. Top-10 recruits and Cal signees Ivan Rabb and Jaylen Brown — Swanigan’s teammates on the postseason high school all-star circuit — tried to get him to Berkeley.

Instead, he stayed home and, in the process, likely kept peace in his family.

Commitments are not binding until a letter-of-intent is signed.

Here’s the story posted by Evan Daniels of Scout.com, who first reported the news Tuesday morning. Here’s more, from ESPN.com.

Center Caleb Swanigan, who made a recruiting visit to Cal and at one time was said to be conspiring with Ivan Rabb and Jaylen Brown to attend Berkeley as a “package deal,” is back on the market after decommitting from Michigan State.

Ask coach Cuonzo Martin how Cal landed two top-10 national basketball recruits and his answer is simple.

“Why not?” he said. “You’re talking about the No. 1 public institution in the world. Why not? You’ve got great academics as well as great athletics. Why not? That’s what people should say.”

Martin said Jaylen Brown, consensus five-star small forward from Georgia, did not simply drop in the Bears’ lap. Hard work, relationship building and circumstances combined to convince Brown to sign with the Bears over the likes of Kentucky, Michigan and North Carolina, giving them a recruiting class that Rivals.com ranks No. 4 nationally.

Martin, in his second season at Berkeley, said he began recruiting Brown when he was head coach at Tennessee and Brown was a freshman at Wheeler High in Marietta.

He recalls seeing a 6-foor-3, 170-pounder who took the game seriously and got high marks from those around him. “His coach was saying he’ll be the next guy when it’s all said and done,” Martin said.

Brown is now 6-7, nearly 220 pounds and led Wheeler to Georgia’s 6A state title. He also played in all of the major all-star games, where his relationship with fellow Cal signee Ivan Rabb of Oakland’s Bishop O’Dowd High began to blossom.

There was talk a month ago of Brown, Rabb and center Caleb Swanigan choosing a school as a “package deal.” Swanigan opted for Michigan State, but Rabb decided to stay close to home.

Cal officially signed high school All-America forward Jaylen Brown on Monday, adding to perhaps the most impressive basketball recruiting class in school history.

“Jaylen is one of the nation’s elite players and we are thrilled he is a Golden Bear,” Cal coach Cuonzo Martin said in a statement. “He is a strong, athletic player with a tremendous work ethic. Jaylen has the skill and ability to play four different positions on the floor.”

A 6-foot-7, 220-pounder from Wheeler High in Marietta, Georgia, Brown was rated as the nation’s No. 1 overall prospect by Scout.com, and is among the top five, according to every major recruiting service.

He joins fellow consensus top-10 prospect Ivan Rabb, a 6-10 power forward from Oakland, and four-star shooting guard Tyson Jolly of Oklahoma City in the class that will enroll at Berkeley next fall.

Brown averaged 28 points and 12 rebounds this season, leading Wheeler to a 30-3 record and the Georgia 6A state title. His two free throws with 0.6 seconds left were the difference in the state championship game, and helped Wheeler to a final No. 6 national ranking, according to USA Today.

“He’s one of the most talented kids I’ve had here at Wheeler, hands down,” said coach Doug Lipscomb, whose past players over 23 seasons include former Cal star Shareef Abdur-Rahim, who went on to a productive NBA career. “Both were very skilled-oriented kids, both rebound the ball, play defense and, most importantly, both are very good people.”

Lipscomb said Brown is versatile and unselfish on the court.

“He should definitely be a plus for Cal,” Lipscomb said. “He’s only going to get bigger and stronger.”